That is the mindset of Moama Water Sports Club members after the plug was officially pulled on the racing portion of the 2025 Southern 80 on Friday, November 1.
Ski Racing Australia placed a hold on all racing in June in response to a number of deaths at major events, including the 2024 Southern 80.
That suspension has continued indefinitely, with a Special Purpose Investigation into the sport initiated by NSW Maritime in October.
On Friday, SRA confirmed the hold on racing would continue until at least June 2025.
In response, Moama Water Sports Club had no choice but to call off racing for next year’s Southern 80.
“There was nothing we could do about it,” club president Steve Shipp said.
“The investigation at NSW Maritime is about all waterski racing across NSW, it’s not focused (only) on the Southern 80.”
The Beehag 100, which would have been held in November, was cancelled in October.
MWSC was in preparations for the 60th anniversary of the event and those plans have continued in a modified form.
The club looks to continue to celebrate the history of the 80 on the same weekend with the traditional boat display as the main attraction of the 2025 event to be held on Saturday, March 22.
“We were planning our 60th-year celebration, so we decided we should continue with that and have a full-on boat show and still do our celebrations,” Shipp said.
“It's about getting the ski racers and everyone together and obviously getting them back into Echuca-Moama.”
One of the biggest events on the calendar for the twin towns, the 80 brings tens of thousands of competitors and spectators to the region.
“(It’s an) excellent opportunity for (the racers) all to catch up with each other and share stories, so we think it'll be a pretty big event, and we're going to make sure it is,” Shipp said.
The club is confident there will be plenty on offer this year for fans of the Southern 80, past and present, despite the absence of on-water action.
“We just want to try to encourage everybody to come up and get some of the old boats out of the shed so they can be seen by others and (bring out) some of them nostalgia items,” Shipp said.
“That's what we were going to do for the 60th year celebration, so we’re just going to go full on and probably put more effort into it because we'll have the time, not having to run the event at the same time.
“We’re just looking for a venue at the moment to work out where we can go and then we'll be looking around at how else we'll put it all together for a big day on the Saturday.”
The revised Southern 80 weekend event is scheduled for Saturday, March 22.
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